Nesting
by OokamiHybrid
Summary: Leah taught her daughter everything she knows; Except how to be a wolf. When the time comes, the girl leaves home. Seperating herself in ways that only Jacob Black ever could. Silently, Leah mourns the loss of her only child.


**AN: For a dear friend of mine, who has inspired much recently. I hope you enjoy this S. It's for you.**

**Nesting**

Getting every bone in her body probably would have hurt less. _Nearly_ getting every bone in her body _had_ hurt less. Her hand flexed over Sam's, crushing his fingers. Carlisle heard the crunch, looked up, then took a deep breath.

Both wolves snarled in outrage, and the doctor gave them a placating smile. "I've done this before with no accidents. You're not any different. Now _push Leah._"

The she wolf screamed in pain, the sound echoing around the cave walls. As soon as she and her wolf had..._known, _they had built a nest. A midwife had been hired by Sam, but after the first two visits she was too terrified to reappear.

Carlisle had been the only one who would help. The only one who wouldn't talk. He was crouched so his back was to the wall, and he seemed cornered. It had originally made the wolves feel more secure, but as time went by and tension rose, he was ever so greatful he had the rest of his coven outside.

Wolves were...unpredictable at best.

"_Push Leah._"

The howling wail of a baby filled the cave.

ZZZ

Not even pack was allowed to enter the house. Sam had had to fight her for the right to be near his own daughter, snarling and snapping at Leah as they wrestled. Her body had healed from the ordeal fairly quickly, which he was glad for.

Still, even weak, Leah had been at her most ferocious. He had seen her rip apart vampires with less viciousness. He had limped away, wounded and bruised, but he had returned.

Currently he was stretched out on the floor, watching their baby. At three weeks old, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. More so than Leah, although he'd never tell her that.

His wolf rumbled happily in the back of his mind, and Sam reached a hand forwards. As his little girl curled her fingers over one of his, deciding to try and nibble, it finally struck Sam.

_We made this._

Life. They had made it.

ZZZ

Two years old. Leah's body trembled in fear as she watched her young daughter pitter around their tiny house. Little fingers searched for electrical outlets, and Leah swore she almost had a heart attack.

Their girl had started walking early, and Leah's wolf form had small bald patches. Carlisle called it compulsive licking. She phased less and less, her mind too muddled to focus on her hunts. Away from her daughter, she was skittish, paranoid. She pulled at her own skin, walked in circles, cried until Jacob told her she could go.

Her wolf dragged her mind back to the present, to then, and she lunged forward to catch her daughter as the girl tumbled towards the table. The scent of blood filled her nose and she wined as she scooped the small child into her arms.

Sam come home to deep, rumbling growls. He followed the noise to the bathroom, where Leah had holed herself and Susan up. She was sitting in the tub, their daughter stretched out on her chest. She rocked slowly, grumbling and growling.

It sounded like a lullaby.

Sam was only vaguely aware of Leah lapping at the wound on Susan's head. He stepped forward, met Leah's eye, then backed out of the room.

He settled in the living room, in the dark, phased. The doors were locked, the blinds were drawn, and silently, he kept guard.

Leah eventually brought Susan to him, before she went out on her patrol.

Rather than hunting the cold one that stalked their borders, she circled their house again, and again, and _again_.

ZZZ

Four years old and standing on her steppy-stool that 'papa Paul' had carved for her, Susan carefully watched her mother cook.

"I don't want you near the oven without dad or me here, Sue." Leah's voice was soft, her eyes focused on the grilled cheese sandwich.

"I know mama." The little girl said, a serious expression on her face. Leah was explaining how to make the _perfect_ grilled cheese; when to flip it, how you should butter the inside _and_ outside for maximum meltyness.

Seth leaned against the kitchen doorway, both eyebrows raised. "Isn't Sue a little too young for cooking?"

Sam turned his head towards his brother-in-law, his brother-in-battle, and raised both of _his_ eyebrows. "She's learning how to hunt."

Neither Sam nor Leah knew _what_ was so funny that Seth was curled up on the ground in a fit of laughter.

Shrugging, Leah flipped the sandwich onto Susan's plate.

ZZZ

Leah had always been viciously protective of her daughter, and Sam had always been on the calmer side. Not anymore.

He had been alpha first, and although he had stepped down in the end for Jake to take control, he was still _strong_. He didn't follow orders the way the other wolves did, and he had hunted alone before. He knew how to do it.

Collin's body was so shredded the wolf could hardly crawl.

Susan was eleven years old, and she had just gotten her first period.

When Jacob ran to the house to order Leah to stay, she was already gone. Seth found her and Susan in the cave where Leah had given birth, the she-wolf using her body as a shield from the outside world.

Paul was the only one she allowed near the mouth of the cave, and even then...he left with his lift eye nearly hanging out of his face.

Luckily, Carlisle had been able to patch him up.

ZZZ

"I swear if you do anything to hurt my daughter, I will rip you limb from limb." Sam sounded calm, he looked calm, but his eyes promised death. Leah had - thankfully - been forced to go on a girls night with Kim and Emily. If she had been there...he chuckled at the thought.

The boy - he was sixteen, but to Sam, he was only a child - shifted, looking unconcerned. "I've heard that before."

Sam crowded the kids space, bent so he was eye level. "Not from someone like me."

"Or me."

They both turned to stare at Paul, the mans lips curled over his teeth. "Trust me. Daddy Uley there is the _least_ of your worries if you hurt Susan. They won't ever find your body."

"Dad? Papa Paul?" Susan glided from her bedroom, looking the epitome of beauty. She looked...so much like Leah. The men exchanged glances, before Sam gave his daughter a tight smile, and a kiss on her forehead.

"Have a good time, love." He murmured to her, as he and his friend wandered further into the house.

Collin and Brady reported to their old Alpha and Beta every hour, silently tailing the couple on their date around town.

ZZZ

"_Why didn't you tell me?" _She screamed. No words came from her mouth, deep growling barks escaping it instead. She looked down at her cream colored legs and let out a screeching howl of fear.

_"Calm down Susan. It's okay. This is...this is okay. This is who we are."_ Leah tried to stay calm, but the overwhelming fear her pup felt made her head spin.

_"This is why we didn't want you leaving home."_ Sam said softly. He wasn't impressed; his daughter had left, and she had nearly killed someone, in a city full of people. It was only Jacob's strong pack-bond, and Leah's insanely strong mother-bond that had them finding their daughter in time.

They had ripped the leech that forced the transformation to shreds, glad they were in a back alley littered with used needles. Drug addicts were easy to dispute. None of them would go to the police about the giant wolves that appeared from the dark, snarling and growling like the hounds of hell as they fought.

"_Why didn't you tell me?" _She cried again. "_Why can I hear you? Why?"_

_"We share a mind..."_ Jacob was there, gently telling Susan about their bonds, of the packmind. Explaining everything, laying it all out.

They had kept silent for her on the trip back to La Push, but now...now they had to explain.

Susan caught glimpses of Emily, of the pain Leah felt whenever Sam thought of her. She stared at her parents, one grey and one black, and she backed away.

"_I don't want to share a mind with you? Is anything sacred? You've always been so protective, I've never been able to do anything. Now I won't be able to think anything? I can't do this. I can't. I can't._"

Susan Clearwater-Uley was the first wolf since Jacob Black to rip herself away from the pack mind, to become a lone wolf. She was faster than her mother, younger, and with a snarl, the cream colored wolf fled to the woods, heading back the way she came.

No amount of tracking ever brought Susan back to her parents, and for years afterwards, Leah mourned.


End file.
